


Scientist's Footnotes

by mucasliller



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: AUs, College AU, Drabbles, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-07-21 00:46:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16149014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mucasliller/pseuds/mucasliller
Summary: A collection of Lucas Miller related drabbles. Various ships and topics. Will prominently feature Luko & Magcas.





	1. Lucas and Taako: Cuddling

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still trying to get in the swing of large-scale writing. In the interim, I'm challenging myself to practice drabbles. Anything I think worth viewing will be here. Will vary in size.

He’s cognizant of every point of contact, everywhere that their bodies fall together. Arms and legs trap the consultant in his bed, draped across him like a warm blanket from the dryer. Warm skin bathed in sun kissed freckles like a nebula. 

Lucas always wakes up first, his internal clock a well oiled machine. That time could be spent being productive. Instead he spends it in bed, memorizing the ebb and flow of the slumbering elf’s breath. Ghostly touches trace the dark specks like faded trails across a treasure map. 

And that map leads right here, to this moment, two bodies tangled in sheets Lucas had spent all that afternoon pushing himself to get up and clean for the elf with far higher standards than himself. 

Just to make it look like he cared. Like he was being held together with more than bandaids and self-preservation. As though this wasn’t the one and only thing Lucas had looked forward to all weeks. 

The off chance of a gorgeous wizard dropping by his empty home, his long body taking up his entire couch while they bitch about work until they were tasting beer long since drunk on each other’s lips. 

The taste was on his tongue now, mixed with red lipstick that lingered on his teeth. He licked at it as his stomach panged with want for food. But Lucas didn’t budge an inch, unwilling to lose a second of this little slice of peace. Before the Reclaimer inevitably stirred awake, and off away he went to his home in the sky. And then only the Gods would when he’d grow bored enough to knock on the scientist’s door again.

Breakfast could wait. Breakfast would always be there, Lucas reasoned, memorizing the weight of Taako’s arms around his waist. Tucked in bed with starlight.


	2. Magnus and Lucas: College AU

_Consider it an exercise in resume building. You need to show you have teaching experience, you know._

_Genius isn’t enough to get you into MIT._

Perhaps not, but if Lucas Miller’s undergraduate applications had taught him anything, it was that a well-written letter from renowned scientist Dr. Maureen Miller, his _mother,_ could fill in anywhere his experience lacked. 

And he wasn’t going to be a teacher. He was going to be a _researcher,_ an important distinction that any ivory tower elite worth their imported, pink himalayan salt would affirm. Lucas knew this, an indisputable fact in the young and very stubborn boy’s heart. Five years in Massachusetts, and then it was off to whatever institution was lucky enough to house him. 

And then he was going to research. He will _create_ knowledge and improve the world. And, yes, maybe he’d _have_ to teach a class or two until tenure. But otherwise he intended to leave that to colleagues better suited to dealing with _people._

Lucas… wasn’t good with people. And there was no worth trying to be. 

But Dr. Lucretia Miller, long-term mentor and stepmother, respectfully disagreed. Or rather, firmly argued that he could (and _should)_ work on that. She insisted he needed _real world experience,_ and helpful as she ever was, she had a plan on how he was going to get it. A plan Lucas couldn’t say no. 

Well, he _could_ say no, but then Lucretia wouldn’t let it go, reminding him at every intervening moment, during passing on campus and their weekly Saturday dinners. And then she’d do it in front of Maureen, who would find the idea of her little boy branching out just darling. 

_It’ll be a learning opportunity! And he’s a quick learner, he did fantastic during field research. He just needs…. a little help on the science side. Trust me, you’re going to get along, just be patient with him, and you’ll be a fantastic tutor._

_.... Promise me you’ll be patient._

A heavy cloud hangs over Lucas’ head as he stepped into the library, moving past the overcrowded Starbucks and student art pieces displayed across the walls. The phone in his hand pulsed as a notification bounced across his screen, the begrudgingly saved _Magnus Burnside_ announcing his arrival with a baker’s dozen worth of emojis. 

M: _I’m in the library~!_  
M: _Thanks again for helping me Lucas!! I really appreciate it, Lucy said you’re awesome and super smart and lol I could sure as fuck use it_  
M: _I mean not that I’m a complete idiot or anything_

Lucas starred as the device buzzed and buzzed, his screen filled with maybe three sentences spread across his whole screen. 

M: _LOL I mean I’m not uh a genius either_  
M: _I mean I really wanna do well but also clearly I need some help if I had my chem professor get her step son to help me_  
M: _jflgksdfjglkdfgdfg_

Oh, geez, it was still coming, huh?

M: _I mean lol_  
M: _What I’m TRYING to say is thanks I appreciate your help and uh I’m sorry in advance if I don’t get everything right away_  
M: _and I probably won’t_  
M: _but appreciate your help_

This guy was an extrovert, wasn’t he? Lucas took a deeper breath, exhaling slow. 

M: _Maybe after we can get froyo!! Did they finally open Pinkberry??_  
M: _or whatevs but thanks_

L: _Yeah sure._  
L: _So where uh, are you in the library...?_  
M: _OH SDJFSFSDF_  
M: _I’m at the top of the escalator_  
M: _I’m the big swole idiot_  
L: _Okay. Be right there._

Panic flared in the scientist’s gut as he stuffed his phone in his jeans, tempted to stall time in the bustling coffee shop. Or go hide in the bathroom. Or just fucking leave. 

This was going to suck. Really suck. This was going to be a disaster. Lucas already knew it, his energy level plummeting with each step to the escalator, eyes nervously darting between the top of the steps and the athlete’s text as he rode up to the second level. It was only just before he reached the top did Lucas realize something critical through his sea of panic. 

He had no idea what Magnus looked like. 

A problem that quickly eroded itself as he stepped onto the second floor, easily spotting the massive man that looked as ecstatic as a humanoid golden retriever. 

Magnus towered over nearly every student passing buy, broad and wide with arms that looked like they could rip a chemistry book in half. A thick book. Like, an upper division level text, plus the supplemental material. It was… impressive.

Lucas watched as the friendly stranger bounce over, apparently recognizing Lucas from whatever description Lucretia supplied him. A couple of his friends took that as their cue to leave, a pretty elf and a guy who Lucas pegged as a graduate student. But he didn’t have long to look, as his vision was suddenly filled with Magnus, the football player so tall the scientist was forced to crane his neck. In a muscle tank. Skin tight. 

“Hi there! I’m Magnus Burnside! Thanks again for helping me man, I _super_ appreciate it. I’ll try real hard not to annoy you too much.”

A friendly hand was extended out, large and a little imposing, but the tutor took it with surprising speed, his grip light but still _there._ “It’s uh, nice to meet you.” Lucas smiled as his eyes roamed, trying not to make it too obvious. 

Maybe this… wouldn’t be such a disaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on tumblr @mucasliller


	3. Lucas and Taako: Fame

“You know I was famous, right? Like, seriously famous. Ol’ boy was a big deal, the talk of every farmer’s market in Faerun. You couldn’t look at a fuckin’ turnip without hearing my name. I had a _book.”_

Lucas didn’t raise his eyes from _his_ book, pen tucked and twirled lazily between fingers smudged with ink. Occasionally he underlined a verse, his notes scrawled messily in the dogeared margins. The perfect picture of concentration, of _indifference_ to whatever the elf was prattling on about. Or at least that’s what Taako thought (not that it was stopping him). Until the scientist finally opened his mouth. 

“Yeah, I know, actually. I saw you perform.” 

A passing comment Lucas hardly spent a thought on, teeth sunk in his pen cap as he scoured his text, too sucked in his thoughts to notice the way the elf starred across the lounge. The silence that followed was pleasant, at least until he finally noted (a solid minute later) the burn of eyes. A touch unnerved, Lucas finally glanced up.

And found Taako crouched inches in front of his nose, starring like his _head_ just turned into a turnip. The scientist jolted in response, but didn’t have much room to run on the couch. So he tilted his head against against the cushion, and Taako’s head followed, ignorant or indifferent to the obvious discomfort. 

“Um. Hi...?” Lucas asked, his annoyance clear but restrained, just as confused by the wizard’s mild long stare, massively oversized ears swishing like a curious bovine. 

“Is there something I can help you with...?”

“You watched me perform. _You?”_ Taako asked like he’d never heard anything more unreal, bewilderment soaked in his face as he leaned back on the coffee table, cherry wood squeaking underneath his ass. 

Lucas Miller had watched him perform.  
_Somebody_ here had watched him perform. 

Taako _had_ been famous. Once. Many, _many_ moons ago. In a very particular kind of way, important but niche, prominent in the caravan chef community… but unknown to most.

Taako been famous, but nobody at the Bureau had ever heard of him. Most people he _met_ had never heard of him. And though he never let it stop him, they scarcely hid their indifference as the elf rambled on about himself. Like he could _make_ them care, entice them enough to learn. 

And that was a good thing, Taako knew.  
Taako had been famous, but they shouldn’t know who he was. They shouldn’t care enough to learn. Because then they might learn too much.

Though Taako never missed an opportunity to let them _try..._

“... You okay? Are you-- _Taako?”_

Honey drenched eyes flutter back into reality, the elf’s attention shifting back to the human in front of him, eyes ebbing into actual concern. Taako played it off well, lips tilted in a cocky little grin as he slapped the scientist’s thigh none too gently. 

“Well how about _that!_ I mean like, no offense Miller, but color be fuckin’ surprised.” His voice hammered out nice and smoothly, hands pressed against the table as he leaned back, making it his own personal chair now. “Just wouldn’t have guessed a guy like you would be at a show like that. This whole look just screams _Hungry Man_ dinners. Where’d you see me?”

“Uh.” Lucas stammered, not nearly as offended as he perhaps should be. “Goldcliffe, I think?”

It was a good enough answer for Taako, his lungs exhaling in a breath he tried not to make too obvious. _Thank Istus._ Now he could really relax, just soak up the attention, stew in the gaze of recognition. 

And the scientist, perhaps less indifferent, and more astute than most would think, decides to stuff his pen inside his book and set both aside. “Yeah. Mom and I were there for an inventor’s convention. We were heading out out and she saw your uh, that caravan you had, she saw a crowd and we snuck in the back. You made this chicken dish-- _Coq Au Vin?”_

“You watched me make _my_ Coq Au Vin, and you were stuck in the back?! Oh you poor miserable bastard, I’m fixin’ that shit right now!” 

Taako snatches the squawking nerd’s wrists before he can protest, stumbling Lucas up on his feet toward the communal kitchen.

“But my notes!” 

“And think of all the good sweet _math_ you’re gonna do when we get some brain food in you. C’mon Miller, chop chop!”


End file.
